


Another Generation

by Jitsch



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe, Duelling, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2019-10-20 00:25:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17611934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jitsch/pseuds/Jitsch
Summary: A mysterious dream is the starting point for a story that seems like you know it already - and is still completely different.This is an alternative retelling of the 3rd school year of Jūdai Yūki at Duel Academy.





	1. Another Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mysterious dream, and a mission.

Someone was calling his name.

The voice seemed to come from far away at first, but it became clearer and louder each time it called him. Gradually he realized that there was not one, but two voices speaking. One was deep and agitated, the other high-pitched and calm. They kept repeating his name in turns.

The voices were unfamiliar, but the place he was in was not. The circles of high stairs around him, cast in sand-colored stone. The heavy pillars outside the arena that pointed into the perfectly blue sky. The rainbow that arched above him, in spite of the absence of even a trace of a cloud. He didn’t get the chance to be here often, but he felt more at home here than in places he was seeing every day. Because this was where he was meant to be:

_Ancient City – Rainbow Ruins_

He had been standing in this coliseum dozens of times before, but this time there was no opponent and when he checked his arm, he was not wearing a Duel Disk that would explain the existence of a solid vision hologram. He immediately concluded that he must be dreaming.

The voices said his name again, and suddenly he was not alone anymore.

Two figures had appeared in front of him in the blink of an eye.

Their physique was human, but the fact that they were floating in midair and that he could see through them to a degree identified them as the spirits of duel monsters. At least that was the most likely explanation, but he had not seen these monsters before. And yet, seeing them he felt like they belonged in this place, the sanctuary of the Crystal Beasts, just as much as he did.

They were a pair like day and night. The one on the left wore light clothes and a metal breastplate. His dress was dominated by light violets and blues set off with golden accents. His short hair was blonde. At his side hung a giant sword, identifying him as a warrior.

The other displayed a dress made of dark heavy leather with dozens of belts wrapped around his torso. In spite of the dress and his long flowing hair that fell down his back in a thick braid he looked very masculine thanks to the steel-like muscles his sleeveless clothing revealed. He carried a crimson staff with a huge ornament at its top. In terms of Duel Monsters, he was most likely a Spellcaster.

As different as they were, they clearly belonged together. The emblem that appeared on the hilt of the knight’s sword and his belt was the same as the ornament on the spellcaster’s staff.

He could not see their faces – the warrior’s eyes were covered by a metal visor and the spellcaster wore a mask that covered his face completely. But that did not quench the inexplicable feeling that he could trust them.

“Johann Andersen.”

It was the light one, the warrior, who called his name once more. It was not a question. They knew that he was the one they had been calling. Nobody else was here anyway. He still felt compelled to nod.

“Please listen to what we have to say”, the one in dark clothes said. His voice was gentle and melodious, but also sounded incredibly sad.

As they continued to talk to him, neither spoke for a long time. Johann continued to turn his head from one to the other. It was almost like he was watching a pendulum swinging back and forth.

“You need to help us”, the warrior said. It almost sounded like an order.

“We are powerless, so all we can do is ask for your help”, his dark counterpart admitted sadly.

“Darkness is closing in”, said the knight grimly, “If we cannot beat it…”

The other took over: “First it will take our hope for a shining future. Then our will to fight for it. And in the end, everyone will sink into the abyss of nothingness.”

Johann swallowed hard. He could feel how serious the two were.

“But it is not too late yet!”

“With your help, we can stop Darkness from spreading.”

 

Johann realized they were waiting for a reaction. He straightened his back.

“I will do whatever I can”, he promised.

His words had hardly left his lips when he felt a familiar aura. Turning to both sides, he saw that the Crystal Beasts had appeared next to him. The duo did not seem surprised to see the seven mystical animals appear.

Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus stepped forward as their representative. “And he will not fight alone”, the winged beast announced proudly.

A faint smile appeared on the lips of the knight as he nodded approval.

“Then listen, and listen well.”

“Because we can only win if all the conditions are met.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it. The prologue for my first fanfiction since 2012 (that’s 7 years, oh my god). It’s also the first I write in English. I’m not a native speaker, so if you have any tips on how to improve my wording, please don’t hesitate to tell me. I really wanted to make this story available for as many people as possible, and English is more widely understood than my native language (German).  
> I hope I made you curious enough to read on.  
> The picture at the end of the chapter was drawn by me. If you like my art style, you might wanto to check out my twitter (@WitchJitsch) or Instagram (YellowJitsch) where I post all my drawings.


	2. Another Encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Johann Andersen arrives at Duel Academy. New encounters are waiting for him. But there are also mysteries...

The main branch of Duel Academy was located on an island in the Pacific Ocean. Going there by helicopter from Domino City took two hours, and they had been told that the passage would take half a day by boat. Johann was thankful that they had opted for flight because of the limited time. Had they gone by boat, he would probably have hidden in some cabin for the whole cruise to not let anyone witness him in a pathetic state of seasickness.

When the pilot announced that the island was coming into view, Johann immediately craned his neck to try and peer out of the windows. But all he could see from this angle was the vast ocean that lay flat like a mirror in bright sunshine. It took a few more minutes until the pilot started the descent. When the helicopter turned sideways to adjust to the landing platform, the island was already up close. Now he could see an impressive volcano towering over everything and green forests covering most of the small island. At the foot of the volcano was the academy’s main building, prominently displaying large obelisks and three smaller domes in the colors blue, yellow and red as part of its architecture.

“Hey Caren, we’re almost there”, Jim Cook said. He was one of only four human passengers, a tall and lean man wearing a Cowboy’s hat. Johann turned and saw him caress the crocodile that was also on board. As Jim had explained, Caren was his family and he would go nowhere without her. Johann had been slightly worried about the predator on board, but during the whole flight Caren had been calm and hardly moved.

Amon Garam adjusted his glasses. “I must say I envy the students of this academy. So far away from everything they are able to concentrate on dueling and nothing else”, he remarked. Amon was bronze skinned and muscular, but the glasses and his behavior gave the redhead the air of an intellectual.

“Yeah, that’s really cool”, Johann agreed and looked out of the window again. Amon seemed nice enough, but the way he spoke always gave the impression that he knew something everyone else didn’t.

Outside, Johann could see a long paved alley leading to the main building. Students dressed in uniforms were heading towards it. The uniforms were either blue, yellow or red, and most of the students seemed to move among groups of their own color. Watching them, Johann added to his previous words: “But I really wouldn’t-“

He was interrupted by the jolt that occurred when the machine touched ground. The sound of the rotors slowly faded.

Austin O’Brien, the fourth passenger, got up calmly. He had not talked since they had introduced themselves when they gathered for the flight at Domino City airport. He did not talk now, either. He simply stepped to the door and activated the unlock mechanism. Johann would not even have known where to look for it. When the door slid open, warm air came in. The temperature was noticeably higher than back in Domino.

“I heard it’s always good weather on the island”, Amon said when he got up to follow O’Brien. “There are no mountains that would cause rainclouds to open here.” He jumped off the helicopter and put his head back. “No clouds”, he confirmed with the same profound smile that he had been wearing all day. Johann climbed from the helicopter after him. Jim came last. He had taken the time to strap Caren to his back in order to free his arms for climbing down.

They were already being awaited. Two men came to them across the landing platform. One was tall, lean and blonde; the other small, fat and dark-haired. Johann thought they might as well be a comedy duo.

“Signori”, the tall one addressed them and spread his arms proudly, “welcome to Duel Academy.”

 

The main auditorium of Duel Academy was large. For today’s event, all students had gathered, neatly divided between the colors of the three houses of the school: Obelisk Blue, Ra Yellow and Osiris Red. Johann was standing on a platform in front, next to the other three from the helicopter, so he had a good view on all of the students. Two caught his eye because they were not wearing uniforms.

One of them was sitting in the front row, among Obelisk Blue students. He was wearing a black, shabby-looking coat. Johann recognized him – he was a third-year student who had recently played some noteworthy duels under the nickname of Oja-Manjoume.

The other was sitting in the last row, also among Obelisk Blues. His dress was a silver suit that matched the platinum blonde of his hair. This one was probably known to anyone who had any interest in professional dueling. Edo Phoenix, the youngest person to ever gain a professional license, stepson of the former world champion and an ever-rising star in the pro league. Johann was surprised to see him here, out of all places. But given his age it was probably not too unlikely that he was a student at this prestigious school.

Johann had no time to examine the other students because now the principal of the academy stepped forward, a professor Samejima who had warmly welcomed Johann and the others shortly before. He was a thick, bald man with a friendly face and wore a dark red coat in the same design as the school uniforms. The duo that had picked them up at the helicopter landing was also there. In the meantime, Johann had learned that the tall one was Chronos de Medici, head teacher of the Obelisk Blue house, and the smaller was the vice principal who had introduced himself as Napoléon.

“Dear students…,” Samejima began.

 

He went on to explain the particulars of the academy’s Graduation Duels. Johann listened duly; the gist was that the students who were hoping to graduate needed to gather enough points. Points were awarded per played duel, but of course there were bonus points for winning, depending on the year and house of the opponent. The maximum number of bonus points was 5, which could be earned by beating a 3rd year Obelisk Blue student.

“And this year we have some special guests to make it even more exciting”, Principal Samejima announced and gestured at Johann and the other three. “We have invited representatives of four branch schools of Duel Academy. Each of them has been selected as the best of his respective school. You could say they are champions. Please give them a warm welcome.”

Applause filled the auditorium.

Samejima waited for it to ebb out. Then he cleared his throat.

“Let me introduce them. First, the representative of the Duel Academy East Branch: Amon Garam.”

Amon stepped forward and waved politely. There was a new wave of applause, but a bit shorter than the last.

“Representative of Duel Academy West Branch: Austin O’Brien.”

O’Brien just made a step forward and gave a court not. The applause still came.

“Representative of Duel Academy South Branch: Jim Crocodile Cook.”

Jim made a step that, thanks to his long legs, brought him farther ahead than the other two, and loudly shouted “Howdy!” Caren, who was still strapped to his back, growled. Only a few students clapped their hands. They seemed to be just as wary of the crocodile as Johann had initially been.

“Last but not least, the representative of the Duel Academy Arctic Branch: Johann Andersen.”

Johann stepped next to Jim and waved with both hands. There was some more applause again, but it quickly died when Samejima cleared his throat once more.

“And of course, our Duel Academy also has a champion. Please come up here, Jūdai Yūki.”

 

The moment the name was dropped the whole atmosphere in the room changed. Everyone feel silent as a boy in the first row stood up. He was wearing the coat of Obelisk Blue like the students next to him, but unlike them he had not zipped it up. As he made his way up to the stage, whispers broke out here and there. Johann noticed unhappy faces, some openly hostile glares. Only a handful of students that had been sitting right next to Jūdai demonstratively clapped their hands. Jūdai had his eyes fixed on some point on the wall and was obviously trying to ignore the atmosphere around him when he climbed the steps to the platform. Samejima made an unhappy face when Jūdai trod past him, but did not say anything. Jūdai passed the four champions and silently lined up next to Johann.

Johann glanced sideways at him. This was not what he had expected.

Samejima took up the explanation again: “As you might have guessed, these five play a special role in the Graduation Duels. Beating any of them will grant you 10 points. But you can be sure that they will not be easy to defeat, so choose wisely!”

He closed the meeting by asking everyone to duel fairly, then the students started to leave.

 

The other champions started to move as well, but Johann turned around to Jūdai and held out his hand.

“Hi, nice to meet you”, he said.

Jūdai looked at his hand, then at his face. A weak smile appeared.

“Nice to meet you”, he answered and raised his hand as well.

The moment they shook hands, something happened. Jūdai’s eyes went wide as two silhouettes appeared on both sides of Johann, then vanished again. He immediately let go and took a step back, looking bewildered. Now another silhouette appeared next to him – it looked transparent to Johann and was, without doubt, the spirit of a duel monster. It looked humanoid, but had purple skin and giant bat-like wings. And it was staring at Johann with distrust.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you”, Johann said. “It’s just my friends.”

With a purr, a small creature appeared next to him. It jumped and climbed on his shoulder, then said “rubiii” in a small voice.

“That’s Ruby”, Johann introduced his companion, then looked at the spirit behind Jūdai. “And who might you be?”

Jūdai’s face lit up with excitement. “Oh, you can see them?”

Johann nodded.

“How impolite of me. Please allow me to introduce myself”, the spirit said. “I am Yubel.”

Johann looked at it, fascinated by its eyes. One was dark green, the other orange. On its forehead there was a third eye with a red iris.

“Nice to make your acquaintance, Yubel”, Johann said.

It looked like Yubel didn’t find that so nice, though. They only gave a court nod.

“Sorry”, Jūdai apologized, “Yubel is a bit overprotective sometimes.”

Yubel folded their arms. “That’s because you’re too naïve sometimes”, they countered.

Johann chuckled at the exchange. “So that’s how it works”, he remarked, “you must be really good partners.”

At these words, Jūdai looked unexpectedly surprised. “Something the matter?” Johann asked.

Jūdai scratched his chin. “We didn’t meet before, did we?” he asked.

“I’m pretty sure it’s the first time”, Johann said, “but it doesn’t really feel like that to me, either.”

Jūdai smiled, expressing that he agreed.

“Hey, we should duel”, Johann suggested, “that’s the best way to get to know each other.”

“I’d love to”, Jūdai answered.

Johann turned around and realized that the others had already left. “Let’s go”, he said. He would have started the duel right there, but it was part of the rules that all duels must take place outside the main building.

 

The duel did not come about as planned. As soon as they left the main building through a glass door, a group of at least 20 students gathered around them – or rather, around Jūdai. Johann was pushed aside and could only watch how Jūdai gave in and took the first duel challenge from an Obelisk Blue student of small build. Johann gathered from the conversation that his name was Okuda. When the opponents took their stances, the other students gathered around them in a circle.

Johann decided to stay and watch. As long as nobody challenged him to a duel, he could at least figure out Jūdai’s style of dueling. And there was another thing that he was curious about.

“Duel!” the two opponents shouted, marking the start of their battle. Jūdai looked a bit insecure when he drew his first cards, and eyed the people around them. None of them looked particularly friendly, except for Johann, who gave Jūdai an encouraging smile.

Okuda went first. “I draw! I set a monster in face-down defense position and set two cards face-down.” The card holograms appeared on the field. “Turn end.”

Jūdai drew. He looked at his cards for seconds only before he started to play.

“I summon _Neo-Spacian Grand Mole_.” The monster appeared on the field, true to its name a mole with some gear around its neck. Johann had already heard of the Neo Space monsters but never seen any up close.

“Now I activate the magic card _Fake Hero_ which allows me to special summon an Elemental Hero monster on my side of the field, but it cannot attack this turn and will return to my hand in the end phase. I choose _Elemental Hero Neos_.”

The monster appeared, a muscular giant in white. Okuda did not look surprised, though.

“A strong starting hand, as always”, someone close to Johann commented.

“You know what comes next, right?” Jūdai said to Okuda. “Neo-Spacians are capable of contact fusion! By returning _Neos_ and _Grand Mole_ to my deck I can special summon a card from my Extra Deck. Appear, _Elemental Hero Grand Neos_!”

In a flash of light, Neos and Grand Mole disappeared and made way for a muscular Hero in green armor that wielded a giant drill in place of its right hand. Johann was impressed. Getting out such a strong fusion monster so quickly was not easy.

Okuda was less impressed: “You think you’ve got me in the bag, but look at this! I activate _Chthonian Polymer_! I tribute the monster on my side of the field to take control of the Fusion monster you just summoned!”

The card hologram was flipped up, showing the image of a dark figure in the middle of a firestorm. The set monster on Okuda’s field that he had announced to be tributed burst in flames and vanished. The flames did not appear after that but crawled across the ground towards _Grand Mole_.

But Jūdai smirked. The insecurity had all but disappeared. He was clearly having fun now.

“Not so fast. I activate the quick-spell card _Contact Out_ to return _Grand Neos_ to my extra deck! Now I don’t have any fusion monster anymore that you can take control of!”

The monster disappeared as quickly as it had come. The flames disappeared, leaving only a black spot where Okuda’s monster had been.

Jūdai was not done yet: “With _Contact Out_ , I get _Grand Mole_ and _Neos_ back from my deck!”

The monsters appeared on the field again.

“But the card I just tributed was Warm Worm! When it is destroyed, I send the top three cards from your deck to the graveyard”, Okuda shouted.

The hologram of a red worm sprang forth from Okuda’s deck and jumped at Jūdai’s Duel Disk. Jūdai put the three cards away as required, but didn’t seem to mind so much.

“Your field is almost empty now. I activate the magic card _Contact Soul_ : When I have Neos on my side of the field, I can special summon a Neo-Spacian from my hand, field or graveyard. At the end of the turn I need to return all monsters from the field to my deck, but I’m taking that chance!” Jūdai announced.

This was a risky move; if Okuda’s remaining set card could stop Jūdai this turn, he would be left with an empty field and only the single card he still had in hand.

Jūdai went on: “I choose _Neo-Spacian Flare Scarab_ from my Deck.”

The monster appeared, a humanoid monster in a black in insect-like armor.

Jūdai went on: “Now I activate _Space Gift_ which allows me to draw one card for each Neo-Spacian I control. With _Grand Mole_ and _Flare Scarab_ that’s two.”

Johann nodded to himself. Jūdai had just increased his chances, but he needed to draw something that would help him get over that set card unless he was going to recklessly rush in and just hope that the card would not stop him.

Jūdai’s wide smile betrayed that he had drawn just what he needed “I activate one of the cards I just drew. _R – Righteous Justice_ destroys as many spell or trap cards as I have Elemental Hero monsters. I have only _Neos_ , but that’s enough to get rid of your remaining set card.”

Okuda flinched as Neos pointed at the card and shot through it with an energy beam. Apparently he had no means to stop that from happening.

“Now I contact-fuse again! _Grand Mole_ , _Flare Scarab_ and _Neos_ – combine into _Elemental Hero Magma Neos_.”

The monster that appeared this time still looked a lot like Neos, but had the claws of Grand Mole and the wings of Flare Scarab. Its Attack points were 3000.

Jūdai continued: “ _Magma Neos_ gains 400 Attack points for every card on the field. Right now there’s only one card, _Magma Neos_ itself, so it has 3400 attack points.”

“I’m going to survive this!” his Okuda shouted angrily, “I still have 4000 Life Points!”

From everything that he had seen already, Johann was pretty sure that he would turn out to be wrong.

 “Sorry”, Jūdai said, and inserted the last card from his hand into the field spell slot of his Duel Disk.

“I activate _Neo Space_! It gives fusion monsters which have _Neos_ as a fusion material a boost of 500 attack points! Also it’s one more card on the field, so _Magma Neos’_ attack becomes 4300!”

The field was warped and became a wide space filled with stars and cosmic dust. Okuda’s face went blank. He stared at the cards in his hand, then back at Jūdai. “This can’t be true”, he murmured, “I haven’t even really started…”

Jūdai did not respond to that.

“Battle! I attack your life points directly with _Magma Neos_! There is nothing you can do!”

And there wasn’t. The monster’s hologram raised its arm to conjure a giant ball of magma and hauled it at its opponent. The boy was knocked from his feet by the shockwave and his Life Point counter went down to 0.

“Gotcha. That was a fun duel,” Jūdai said and pointed at Okuda with two fingers. But his smile quickly died when whispers broke out among the surrounding students again.

Johann heard things like “He _killed_ him” and “He’s really _that_ merciless, isn’t he?” Someone loudly exclaimed: “Fun duel my ass!” Jūdai’s head sagged more with every comment.

Johann found it hard to bear to watch and was about to say something when another student stepped in front of the defeated Okuda. This one was a Ra Yellow.

“I’ll be next! Can you also _kill_ me so easily?” he shouted.

Jūdai flinched at those words. Yubel appeared next to him. “Don’t listen. Just duel like you always do”, they said in a consoling tone.

Nevertheless, there was a hint of desperation in Judai’s expression when he shouted “Duel!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This concludes the first real chapter! Hope you liked the duel, because there are going to be more. I am aiming for a similar style as the original anime here, so there will be duels featured in every chapter. 
> 
> As it made clear, some things in this story are quite different from the story of the Anime. There’s a reason for that. I hope that the story will answer all the question as it goes on so I'll be somewhat reserved when answering questions. Still, if there is anything you want to say or ask, or just voice your theories, feel free to do so anytime. I appreciate every kind of feedback. 
> 
> Stay tuned for chapter 2 which should explain at least some parts and put the spotlight on characters we haven’t really met yet. I am still counting this chapter for January, so I'll try my best to publish the next one before the end of February.


	3. Another Big Brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jūdai is not the only student of Duel Academy who has to deal with issues. Shō Marufuji has to face his own demons. And Darkness is approaching.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised this would arrive within a month so here I am. Why does February have to be so short?

While Jūdai Yūki was surrounded by dozens of students in front of the main building, Shō Marufuji stood below the rustling trees of the forest that covered large parts of the island. Draped over his shoulders he wore a black coat with silvery seams. It was obviously too large for him. Its tails were dragging in the grass next to his feet. But the somewhat clumsy impression this could have given was easily set off by the impressive figure of the pointy steel fangs and wings of a dragon-like beast that hovered in front of him and which was wired to a similarly vile-looking dragon with black scales.

“ _Cyberdark Dragon_ , direct attack”, Shō ordered coolly.

His opponent yelped when the impact of the solid vision hit him. His life point counter went down to 0. He fell onto his knees.

Shō adjusted the small pair of glasses on his nose. “Does anyone else want to test what an _easy target_ I am?” he sneered.

Two Ra Yellow students who had been watching quickly shook their heads. One of them helped the loser, also a Ra Yellow, back to his feet. A fourth student from the same dorm who gloomily stood next to them didn’t show much of a reaction.

“Yeah, I thought so. Excuse me then”, Shō said coldly and turned around, dragging the black coat behind as he advanced through the woods. The eyes of the other students followed him until he vanished out of sight. Only then did one of them let out a sigh of relief.

“Man, I had no idea the younger Marufuji could be that scary…”  

 

Shō had not gotten very far, but already tripped over a tree root and almost lost his coat which was caught in a tree, when he encountered a new person. Although he had been warily looking around, he was taken aback completely by the figure that suddenly entered his vision. He had not seen it moments before, nor had he heard anyone approaching. But even if he were not shocked by the sudden appearance, the looks of the man who was blocking his path would have sent a chill down his spine.

He was tall, several heads higher than Shō who had to put his head back to see the other’s face. Said face was angular and bony, and the skin had an unhealthy color, even adjusting for the slightly dim light beneath the trees. The man’s eyes were hidden behind a pair of glasses. His hair was styled backwards and looked somewhat spiky. There were also spikes at his joints and along his upper thighs adorning the black leather suit he wore. He was definitely not a student of Duel Academy.

Shō bumped back and almost tripped over his coat.  He caught his balance, gathered the coattails and turned his back on the man with a muttered “Sorry, gotta go”.

He managed to advance just one hurried step before his path was blocked again. The same man was now standing in front of him, at the opposite direction of where he’d been just a blink of an eye ago.

“Now now, don’t run away”, he said. His voice was calm, but something about it made the hairs on Shō’s neck stand up.

“Stay away from me!” Shō shouted and turned the other way again.

This time he couldn’t even make a single step before the man stood in his way again like a wall.

“It’s useless, young Marufuji”, the man said.

Shō flinched.

“Who are you?” he asked with a shrill voice.

“You can refer to me as Mr. T, short for Trueman. That is how I introduced myself to your friend Jūdai.”

“He is not my _friend_!” Shō shouted. The anger in his voice drowned out the previous hints of fear.

A thin smile appeared on the lips of Mr. T.

“Well, anyway. Your _not-friend_ was able to beat me. I was wondering if you are capable of it as well.”

At this, Mr. T raised his left arm. It quivered as if it its insides were boiling. Structures that resembled bat wings shot forth from it. Shō realized that there were five wings and that each of them had a small flat area in the same form as the card slots on a duel disk. A deck of cards rose from Mr. T’s wrist as well.

Shō understood. “If Ani-, I mean, Jūdai beat you in a duel, there’s no way I will lose”, he proclaimed and turned on the duel disk on his left arm.

 

“It’s here, I can feel it!”

The sudden exclamation made Johann jolt.

He was still standing in front of the Duel Academy’s main building watching Jūdai duel. He would be dueling himself had anyone challenged him, but so far he was completely being ignored in the questionable favor of Jūdai.

The shout had come from one of the two spirits that were now showing faintly on either side of Johann. He just inclined his head a bit in the direction of the one who had spoken, the white knight who was known as the _Crystal Keeper_.

“Are you saying…?” Johann asked in a whisper, just too aware of how weird it looked to regular people when he spoke with spirits that nobody else could see. Well, “nobody else” was not true anymore, but Jūdai was too absorbed in the duel to even have noticed. Only Yubel, who had silently been standing behind him all the time, had turned their head and was staring in the direction of Johann and the two spirits with open distrust in their oddly colored eyes.

“I can feel it too. Darkness is gathering on this islands”, the darker spirit, _Crystal Master_ , said, his voice thick with worry.

Johann turned his head in several directions. “I don’t notice anything special”, he replied.

“Not yet”, the Keeper said grimly. “Just make sure that you stay close to Jūdai. When the time comes you have to stand together.”

Johann nodded, but he kept scanning his surroundings with a worried expression while he followed the ongoing duel.

 

Shō’s starting hand was not ideal but something he could work with. After scanning his cards, he raised his head to check what his opponent was doing. Mr. T already had his five cards in hand and was looking at him with an unreadable expression.

“Please go ahead”, he said and made an inviting gesture with his right hand.

Shō gave a concentrated nod. When he felt for the top card in his deck he told himself that all he needed to do was duel the way he had practiced all the time. But he could not shake the nervousness that had gripped him. This was no ordinary opponent, and he was already convinced that he would lose more than just a duel if his life hit zero first.

“My turn! Draw”, he announced.

The card he pulled from his deck was a trap that might come in handy later but that didn’t alter the plan for his first turn that he had already played out in his head.

“First I normal summon _Infernal Dragon_ ”, he announced.

The hologram of a dragon with black scales appeared in the air before him with a roar. It displayed an impressive attack power of 2000.

“It’s very strong for a level four monster”, Shō explained, “but if use it to attack, it will be destroyed in the End Phase. Not that I could do that in my first turn, anyway.”

There was no visible reaction in Mr. T, so Shō continued. “Now I set three cards in the Spell- and Trap zone.”

The card holograms appeared face-down in front of him when he inserted the real cards into the duel disk.

“That ends my turn”, he concluded. He adjusted his glasses, satisfied that he was off to a solid start.

Mr. T nodded as if something made a lot of sense. “You are going all out with a strong monster but keeping your defense up with all those traps. Your friend Jūdai didn’t keep a backrow like that when he dueled me.”

“I said he is not my friend”, Shō said sharply. 

“Excuse me”, Mr. T said in an ironic tone. “He is not your friend but your _Aniki_ , or big brother.”

Shō quickly shook his head in revulsion. “I don’t call him that anymore”, he retorted, trying to sound cold. But his voice was shaking ever so slightly. In his distress, he did not even wonder how his opponent, whom he had never met before, could possibly know such a detail.

A mean smile appeared on Mr. T’s thin lips. “Right, right. You have a real brother, after all”, he said.

At this remark, Shō averted his gaze. Suddenly he looked very small with the black coat thrown over him, but the mass of fabric did a good job of hiding his shaking fists.

Mr. T ignored Shō’s obvious internal struggle and reached for his deck.

“It’s my turn now. Draw. I summon _Zure, Knight of Dark World_.”

The monster that appeared as a hologram was as ghastly as its master, with a skull-like face, thick horns on his head, and a full plate armor. The attack points were displayed as 1800.

“And I equip _Zure_ with the Spell _Axe of Despair_. This way it gains 1000 attack points.”

An axe with a handle made of knotty roots that resembled the shape of a head appeared in the hands of the monster.

Shō slowly looked up again. He needed to concentrate on the duel!

“Too bad”, Mr. T taunted him. “Even though you brought up such a strong dragon in your first turn, it is mere fodder for my Knight. _Zure_ , attack _Infernal Dragon_.”

 A faint smile appeared on Shō’s face.

“Did you really think I was not ready for this? In fact I should be thankful that you allow me to play this move.”

Now it was too late for Mr. T to call off the attack. The axe cut right through Shō’s dragon and the hologram shattered.

“I activate _Power Wall_! When I take battle damage from a monster, I can send cards from my deck to the graveyard and reduce the damage by 100 for each card!”

Shō went through his deck quickly. “I am sending 8 cards to reduce the damage from 800 to zero”, he announced before he inserted the cards into the graveyard slot of his disk.

“This move… He was famous for it, wasn’t he?” Mr. T hinted. Shō narrowed his eyes, but Mr. T did not dwell on the topic.

“I set three Spell- or Trap cards face down and end my turn.”

Shō made a determined face. The conditions were good. He could win this. He could already see how he would do it.

“My turn! Draw!”

The card he had drawn was another trap he had no use for right now. Checking the remaining cards in his hand, there was another one he could not use, but seeing it made him feel uneasy. He should have left it out of his deck, after all. Had he even played it once since he started using it?

But that was not what he needed to think about right now. The other card there was all he needed. His way to victory. He would be a fool not to use it just because of the risk that came with it.

“I activate a Spell card! _Cyberdark Impact!_ ”

Shō inserted the card into a free slot of his disk with a sweeping movement.

“I return _Cyberdark Horn_ , _Cyberdark Edge_ and _Cyberdark Keel_ , which I just discarded to activate _Power Wall_ , to my deck. Now I can Special Summon _Cyberdark Dragon_ from my Extra Deck!”

Holograms of the three fusion materials appeared on the field just to vanish again in a whirl of dark energy. The dragon appeared, a creature with steel fangs and pointed steel wings. When it let out a metallic cry, Shō grit his teeth and clutched his chest.

“I activate a trap”, Mr. T announced. Shō bent over as if these words had caused him more pain, then his head shot up in panic.

“ _Triggered Summon_. When a monster is Special Summoned to my opponent’s field, each player can Special Summon a level 4 or lower monster from their hand.”

Shō breathed deeply. He had feared that his freshly summoned dragon would immediately be destroyed, but this was not so bad.

“I summon _Dark Archetype_ ”, Mr. T announced and laid the card on one of the bat wings of his disk. The hologram that appeared was another ghastly creature that looked like it had just escaped from a tank in a mad scientist’s lab. Its main body consisted of raw muscles and oozed a slime-like fluid. The extremities were covered in grey skin that was coated in slime as well. They were wired to a technical device around its head.

“You can summon a monster as well”, Mr. T advised. Shō checked the cards in his hands although he already knew, then shook his head. “I don’t have any.”

“But,” he added, “the effect of _Cyberdark Dragon_ activates when it is Special Summoned. I equip to it a Dragon-Type monster from either player’s Graveyard. And I choose this one…!”

His duel disk released the selected card and Shō put it into a free Spell- and Trap slot. The hologram that appeared was a dragon without doubt - but one made of metal.

“ _Dragonroid_ is a Machine-Type monster, but while it is in the Graveyard, it’s treated as a Dragon-Type, so I can equip it to _Cyberdark_ ”, he explained. Electronic wires shot forth from the main body of _Cyberdark Dragon_ and attached themselves to _Dragonroid_ ’s bright red panels. The Roid gave a weak sound of protest as it was pulled into the fangs of the sinister Dragon. _Cyberdark_ screeched again, and just like before, Shō winced with pain. As _Dragonroid_ ’s body went limp, the attack points of _Cyberdark_ which were displayed next to the hologram started to increase.

“Cyberdark… gains attack points… equal to those of… the equipped monster”, Shō said, still clutching his chest and breathing heavily.

“ _Dragonroid_ has 2900 attack points, adding to _Cyberdark_ ’s 1000 that makes 3900… also…”

He had to draw a deep breath in order to continue talking.

“Also, _Cyberdark_ gains an additional 100 attack points for each card in my graveyard… Right now there are _Power Wall_ and _Cyberdark Impact_ , the _Infernal Dragon_ that you destroyed… and four of the cards I discarded to activate _Power Wall_ – a total of 7 cards. So he gains 700 more attack points. That’s… a sum of 4600!”

Shō spread his arms dramatically just when the attack point display in the air stopped increasing.

Mr. T’s expression stayed blank, at least as far as one could tell despite his sunglasses. But he raised his hands to clap, slowly and deliberately.

“Most impressive indeed”, he said. “But looking at this, I wonder… which one is you?”

Shō frowned. “What do you mean?”

A hint of a smile appeared on Mr. T’s lips. He pointed at the monster holograms in the air with one of his long, bony fingers.

“Using others or to be used… One of them is preying on the strength of the other and making it his own. You may think of yourself as the one who controls this deck, but to me you look just like your _Dragonroid_ which is strong enough on its own but is offering itself to the vile dragon that uses its strength and draws from its life force.”

“What would you know about me?” Shō shouted angrily, but there was a quiver in his voice.

“I know all I need, younger brother of Hell Kaiser”, Mr. T said calmly.

 

Jūdai was showing signs of exhaustion after three duels in a row, but there were still many students who wanted to face him. Johann thought that the chances for them looked slim – Jūdai’s deck was versatile enough to deal with different strategies directed at him and, more importantly, the cards seemed to always come into his hand right when he needed them. Taking him down would take a very good strategy, or a similarly close bond with one’s deck. Johann flexed his fingers. He was itching to duel himself. He had hoped that someone would come to challenge him sooner or later because of the points the students were promised to get dueling one of the foreign guests, but at this rate he would have to place the challenge himself.

Lost in this kind of thoughts he had noticed anyone approaching when someone spoke next to him.

“I thought his dueling might be affected by what happened, but he’s doing as good as ever.”

Johann whirled around. But before he even really checked who the speaker was, a much more important question burst out: “Affected by _what_ that happened?”

Edo Phoenix looked at him, stunned at the sudden reaction.

“I mean…” Johann remembered his manners, “it’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Phoenix.”

Edo raised his eyebrows.

“The pleasure’s all mine. I have heard only good things about you, Johann Andersen”, he said and shook Johann’s hand with a firm grip.

The question from whom he might have heard those good things entered Johann’s mind, but his other question was more important.

“So… you do know why everyone at this school seems to hold a grudge against Jūdai?”

Edo folded his arms and nodded. “Right, only students of this school could know… But I assume that you have heard of the professional duelist, Hell Kaiser Ryo?”

Johann nodded. “Yes. He was really strong and I was looking forward to dueling him some day, but he just vanished… what was it… two months ago?”

Edo glanced sideways towards where Jūdai was just summoning his ace monster _Neos_ again.

 “You see”, Edo said in a hushed voice, “the reason why Hell Kaiser disappeared is because he won’t be able to duel ever again.”

 

“Shut up”, Shō whispered.

“You see, I am calling myself Trueman because I am the one who speaks the truth. If you believed he would wield it again, you would not be using your older brother’s deck.”

“Shut up…” Shō pressed his hands over his ears.

“You did not even like him that much. _He_ was not the one you called _Aniki_.”

“Shut UP!”

“But I can understand that this changed…”

Shō’s hands over his ears shook because he was trying so hard not to hear. But it was in vain. The words still reached him.

“… because it was your _Aniki_ that killed your real big brother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, that's a mean way to end a chapter, but I swear there will be some answers in the next one.  
> I promise the story will continue next month! 
> 
> Unlike the previous chapter this one doesn't have an illustration. That is just because I was too busy writing so I could finish in time. I'm already working on an illustration and I'll update it into the chapter soon. Follow me on Twitter (@WitchJitsch) to see it first!


	4. Another Tragedy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fateful last duel of the one called Hell Kaiser.

“… because it was your _Aniki_ that killed your real big brother.”

Shō could not help it; the words of Mr. T made him think back to that fateful day.

 

It was morning and the sun was shining brightly through the windows of the large hall in the Obelisk Blue Boys’ dorm where breakfast was served. It was a Sunday and before 9 in the morning, so there were not many students yet. Shō was sitting alone on a larger table and had already finished half of his food when someone called him.

When he looked up, Jūdai was coming his way, carrying his breakfast on a tray. He wished a good morning as he sat down across the table.

Shō rubbed his eyes. “Who are you and what did you do to my Aniki?” he asked with suspicion. It was far too early. Even on a weekday it would have been unusual to see Jūdai at this time of the day.

Jūdai laughed. “I just couldn’t sleep anymore because I’m so excited”, he explained and took a big bite from the croissant on his plate.  “I mean… today is _the day_ ”, he added through a full mouth. 

Shō had long given up reminding his friend that talking and eating at the same time was considered bad manners, so he just gave a low sigh. “I can understand that you’re excited”, he admitted slowly, “but to be honest I’m a bit worried.”

Jūdai took a sip of orange juice to help the last bite down his throat, then said merrily: “You needn’t worry about me! I’m just gonna give it my all so no matter how it ends I won’t regret it.”

Shō shook his head. “It’s not you I’m worried about”, he admitted.

 

 

“Signore e signori!” Professor Chronos de Medici greeted. He was standing in the middle of the big duel arena, the centerpiece of Duel Academy. The seats around the arena were filled to the brink –there was not a single student who would miss this important occasion. Shō was sitting in the first row with Jūdai’s other friends Asuka and Fubuki Tenjōin, Tyranno Kenzan and Rei Saotome.

“You have all been fighting hard but in the end there was only one student who could make it… Please greet Jūdai Yūki!”

The applause was most fervent from Shō and the people next to him, but almost everyone clapped their hands as well.

“Tch, it should have been me”, Jun Manjōme grumbled when Jūdai entered the arena and stepped up to Professor Chronos. Manjōme was sitting one row behind everyone else, pretending that he was not interested enough to care for a seat in front.

“Well, it would have been you - if you had not lost to Aniki in the final yesterday”, Shō pointed out teasingly.

“Shut up”, Manjōme grumbled.

Jūdai waved his hands in the air, visible enjoying all the attention directed at him, and he was beaming across the whole face. After the applause had calmed down, Chronos raised his voice again: “And now let us greet his opponent. An alumnus of our dear school and now a professional duelist. Let me hear your applause for Signor Ryō Marufuji who is known to the world as Hell Kaiser!”

This time’s applause was decidedly louder – except for the group around Shō where only Asuka and Fubuki clapped their hands.

The Hell Kaiser entered the arena with long strides. The ex-student was dressed in his well-known black outfit and the tails of his long coat flapped up and down with his movements. He did not smile, nor did he acknowledge the crowd that was cheering for him. His gaze was fixated solely on his opponent. He stopped in front of Jūdai.

“Hey Kaiser”, Jūdai said and held out his hand, “I got to face you again.”

Ryō ignored the hand offered to him and just nodded approvingly. “I am counting on you, Jūdai”, was all he said, then he strode off to his side of the field.

Jūdai seemed a little baffled when he watched him go there, then he shook his head and smiled again. “Let’s make this an unforgettable duel!” he announced. He hurried over to his side of the field and turned on his duel disk. Professor Chronos took a few steps back to clear the battlefield and announced that they could start.

The two opponents called out: “Duel!”

 

 

Only those in the first rows heard the suppressed groan of pain that Ryō gave when the direct attack hit him. To anyone farther away, it probably looked like the usual overplaying of a professional duelist when he went down on his knees. While several students applauded Jūdai’s breakthrough, Shō was jumping up from his seat and called out to Ryō, shouting “Onii-san!”

Before he could get on the field, however, Ryō raised a flat hand in his direction. “I’m fine”, he groaned. The anguish in his voice made it clear that the opposite was the case. Nevertheless Shō stopped at this, just like Jūdai who had also started to move with a worried expression.

During the course of the duel it had become more and more apparent that Ryō was not in good physical condition, but so far his claims that he was just a bit exhausted had been somewhat convincing.

“So Shō was right…?” Jūdai muttered to himself.

Shō was nodding. “It’s those terrible collars he wears in the underground duels”, he said, loud enough so that his friends could hear it. “The pain was almost unbearable for me when I used them once and he’s been doing it without a break… it must have damaged him more badly than he would admit…”

 “Just as I thought”, Edo Phoenix said. He was sitting next to Manjōme since he had come in during the third turn. Everyone turned around to him, which prompted him to explain in more detail: “He’s been dueling less and less during the last half year. Recently I met him right after a duel and he was completely worn out. But when I said that it would be foolish to continue in his condition, he said it would be foolish to stop before he found a worthy opponent.”

Asuka gasped silently. Sho hurled around again to look at his older brother with worry.

“Yes”, Edo continued, “when I learned that he asked Principal Samejima to hold a tournament at this school whose winner would get to duel him, I knew he hoped to find that worthy opponent here… worthy for a final duel.”

“What do you mean, final?” Kenzan asked aggressively. “He’s just a bit older than we are!”

Edo did not reply. His thoughtful gaze was fixated on Ryō.

 

During the friends’ short discussion, Ryō had gotten on his feet again. He looked instable, but was somehow holding up. Watching this, the worry on Jūdai’s face deepened.

“Kaiser…” he said, hesitant. “I didn’t know… I think we…”

Ryōs fierce look made him fall silent. “The duel is not over yet.”  

Jūdai swallowed. He sounded hesitant when he announced the end of his turn.

The last attack had left Ryō with 200 life points and no monsters. The only card on his field was a face-down spell or trap card. His hand was also empty. In contrast, Jūdai still had 2000 life points, two cards in hand, one face-down on the field, and hovering on his field was _Elemental Hero Air Neos_ which currently had 3000 attack points thanks to the active Field Spell _Neo Space_. But there was still fighting spirit in Ryō’s eyes.

“It is my turn now! Draw!”

He pulled the new card from his deck fiercely. Too fiercely, it seemed, because he had to draw a deep breath afterwards. But he only allowed himself that short break.

“I normal summon _Cyber Valley_ in attack mode!”  

The hologram of a huge metallic dragon adorned with red rhinestones appeared on the field. Its attack points were displayed as zero.

“I activate one of three possible effects of _Cyber Valley_ : I remove this card and one other card I control from play in order to draw two cards!” Ryō announced. His breath was more regular now, but his stance still looked a bit weak.

 _Cyber Valley_ and the set card on Ryō’s side of the field vanished into balls of light that flew towards his deck from where he draw the new cards after he had tucked away the banished ones in his coat.

Fubuki gasped. “That’s an all-or-nothing move”, he commented.

Edo and Manjōme nodded simultaneously. “Jūdai has him completely cornered. It’s his only option if he still wants to win. And I can tell that he does”, Edo remarked.

Asuka slowly shook her head. “He’s _sick_ ”, she whispered. Her voice was thick with worry. “He should have different things on his mind than _winning_.”

 

Ryō regarded the two new cards in his hand and a smirk appeared on his lips.

“I activate the Spell Card _Overload Fusion_! I can remove Monsters from my Graveyard that are listed as materials on a Machine-Type Fusion Monster to Special Summon it! The Fusion Monster I am going to call is _Chimeratech Fortress Dragon_. It requires one _Cyber Dragon_ and one or more Machine-Type Monsters as Fusion Materials. I remove from play the three _Cyber Dragons_ , _Cyber Laser Dragon_ and _Cyber Barrier Dragon_ that you destroyed until now!”

The five monsters appeared in the air as holograms when Ryō pulled the cards from his graveyard and put them into his coat’s inner pocket. The holograms all disappeared in an explosion that marked the activation of Overload Fusion.

Ryō’s breath grew unstable when the summoned monster appeared on his side of the field: A massive dragon whose body was made up by connected metal wheels. Hatches opened in five of the wheels, showing the heads of the monsters that had just been offered for the Summon.

Jūdai gazed up at the monster with awe. He had not encountered this one before. It was impressive.

“When… this monster is summoned… all the cards I control are destroyed. But there are none anymore”, Ryō said, gasping for breath after every few words. It made Jūdai focus on his opponent’s condition again. “Kaiser... after all… you should…” he started.

Ryō did not let him finish what he was going to say. He raised his right arm and snapped: “I attack _Air Neos_ with my _Chimeratech_!”

The head of the _Cyber Dragons_ in the leftmost wheel shot a beam at Jūdai’s monster. Jūdai stared at the incoming attack dumbfound. _Chimeratech_ looked impressive, but its attack points were zero!

Ryō clutched his chest again, fighting another seizure. But his look was focused at Jūdai and expressed confidence. This was not a suicide move.

“ _Chimeratech_ ’s effect: When it attacks… damage calculation does not take place! But… each time this card attacks… I inflict 400 points… of damage… to my opponent!”

The beam went right through _Air Neos_ and hit Jūdai, who staggered. His life point counter went down to 1600. The head of the _Cyber Dragon_ that had fired the beam pulled back and disappeared behind a hatch in _Chimeratech_ ’s body.

Cheers and clapping of hands welled up in the spectator ranks. Hell Kaiser was not finished after all!

Ryō grinned in spite of the pain. “That is not all. _Chimeratech_ can attack once for every monster that was used for its Fusion Summon.”

“Wait, does that mean…” Asuka gasped.

“If Jūdai can’t stop him, Hell Kaiser wins”, Edo confirmed.

Jūdai obviously had the same realization as his surprise made way for honest amazement. “Kaiser!” he exclaimed, deeply impressed.

Ryō was still clutching his chest. “ _Chimeratech_ , attack!” he shouted. The second _Cyber Dragon_ released an attack.

The second attack hit Jūdai, lowering his life points to 1200.

“And attack!”

Jūdai was down to 800.

“Fourth attack!”

Down to 400.

Cheers erupted from the crowd. Now it was obvious for everyone. The attack corresponding to _Cyber Barrier Dragon_ was still left. It would inflict 400 points of damage, and that was just enough to eradicate Jūdai’s remaining life points. He still had a face-down card, but if it could help him, wouldn’t he already have used it?

While excitement gripped the audience, Shō sat there and clasped his hands together like in prayer. “Please, just finish this duel already”, he pleaded to nobody in particular.

 

When Ryō slowly raised his arm to announce the fifth attack he was gripped by a new seizure. Clutching his chest he fell on his knees again. “Onii-san!” Shō gasped. “Ryō!” Asuka chimed in. Fubuki was also shouting for Ryō. The cheers ceased and made way for confused whispers among the students.

Jūdai looked at Ryō with clear worry. “Kaiser. After all…” he started again, but Ryō shook his head. The look in his eyes was desperate. It seemed to take all of his willpower, but somehow he pulled himself back up again.

Jūdai looked insecure. It was obvious that dragging out the duel would not be good for Ryō’s health.

“Jūdai”, Ryō said, slowly and earnestly. “I was glad when I learned it would be you today. Because you know what it means to be a duelist with all your heart and soul!”

The words clearly affected Jūdai, but he still seemed undecided.

Ryō grimaced and raised his arm again. “Chimeratech’s fifth attack!” he commanded fiercely.

The beam shot out. Jūdai raised his arms for protection and vanished in a cloud of smoke when it hit. Cheers erupted throughout the stadium.

 

But when the smoke cleared, Jūdai was still standing - his life point counter showed 1000. Ryō smirked as if he had expected nothing else.

“Before your attack hit me I activated my Trap, _Elemental Recharge_!” Jūdai explained. “It gives me 1000 life points for each _Elemental Hero_ monster I control! And _Air Neos_ is one! So this duel is not yet over!”

He grinned. Ryō smiled as well.

“I expected nothing less from you”, he remarked weakly.

Some students cheered for Jūdai, including a high-pitched “Jūdai-sama!” from Rei that brought her annoyed looks from Asuka and Shō.

“This is the end of my battle phase. I set my last card face-down and end … my… turn…”

Ryō’s voice grew faint at the last words. He staggered and for a moment it looked like he was going to collapse again.

“Onii-san!” This time Shō did jump over the barricade.

“STOP!” The shout that caused Shō to stop in his tracks had not come from his brother this time, but from Jūdai. Shō looked at him, shocked. “But…”

“Don’t… interfere…” Ryō added. He was still standing, after all.

“No! Onii-san! You have to stop! At this rate you will…” Sho pleaded.

But Ryō interrupted him. “I will finish this duel”, he spat out. “I don’t care what happens afterwards. This is my pride as a duelist.”

Shō shifted his gaze to Jūdai. “Aniki…” he pleaded.

Jūdai looked back at him sadly. “I made up my mind”, he explained. “You always looked up to Kaiser because he dueled with respect for his opponent. And I think that this is how I must show my respect for him.”

Shō looked back to Ryō, but he was already ignoring his younger brother again.

“It is your turn”, Ryō pointed out and looked at Jūdai.

Jūdai nodded. He placed his hand on the top card of his deck.

Shō slowly moved back to his seat with a gloomy expression.

 

“I draw!” Jūdai announced loudly.

He checked the new card and nodded, but he did not play it and went right into battle.

“ _Air Neos_ , attack _Chimeratech Fortress Dragon_! When it is not the one who attacks its effects don’t activate so it’s only a weak monster with zero attack!”

Ryō nodded grimly. “And that’s why I set this card”, he said and pressed the activation switch on his duel disk. His movements were sluggish but his voice was clear.

“I activate the Quick Spell _Dimension Explosion_. I return one Fusion Monster to my Extra Deck! Now I can Special Summon as many monsters which were removed from play as I want!”

He pulled out the cards he had previously tucked away. “I Special Summon three _Cyber Dragon_ s and _Cyber Valley_ in Attack Mode.”

The metallic dragons appeared in the arena and loomed over Jūdai. _Air Neos_ stopped. If he was going to continue his attack, Jūdai had to choose a new target. But none of the monsters Ryō had just called had nearly as many attack points as _Air Neos_ – no matter which one he would choose, the difference was enough to bring Ryō down to zero.

But Ryō obviously knew that, too: “I activate one of the other effects of Cyber Valley. During the Battle Phase, I can remove this monster from play to end the Battle Phase. Then I can draw one card.”

Cyber Valley disappeared just as quickly as it had come. Ryō drew the card and signaled Jūdai to go on, but the chance to end the duel was over.

“I set two cards face down and end my turn”, Jūdai declared.

 

Shō took a deep breath. “Why can’t it be over already?” he whispered.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Edo asked. “They are both duelists. There’s no way either of them will just give up.”

“But…” Sho whispered. None of the others said a word.

 

Ryō drew his next card with a shaking hand. But when he saw what he had just drawn, determination took over his face and then his whole posture. He straightened himself up.

Then he called out in a surprisingly clear voice that echoed through the arena: “Whether I win or lose… this will be my last turn. Prepare yourself, Jūdai!”

He pushed the card into a slot of his disk. “I activate … _Power Bond_!”

Gasps were coming from the crowd. People recognized Hell Kaisers’s ace card.

“With the effect of _Power Bond_ I fuse my three _Cyber Dragons_ to summon the almighty _Cyber End Dragon_!”

The dragons roared, disappeared in a whirl of energy, and made place for a monster that dominated the arena. Is three heads roared, then they faced Jūdai and _Air Neos_.

The only response that Jūdai was able to get out was an amazed “wow”.

“The additional effect of _Power Bond_ : The attack points of _Cyber End Dragon_ are doubled! But at the end of this turn I will take damage equal to _Cyber End_ ’s Attack Points.”

The smile that underlined this announcement turned into a mask of pain when a seizure took over Ryō’s body. He groaned and fell to his knees again, buckling over. It looked worse than all the previous times. Shō shrieked in horror. Fubuki rose from his seat. Asuka clenched her fists.

Jūdai started moving towards his opponent to help him. But Ryō, still cowering on the ground, uttered one word. “Attack.”

Jūdai stopped when _Cyber End Dragon_ threw back its three heads and gathered energy. The monster’s attack points were 8000 now. This attack would finish him for good. Unless…

“Sorry Kaiser, but I can’t just let you win. I activate the Quick-Spell _De-Fusion_! It lets me return _Air Neos_ to my Extra Deck and Special Summon its fusion Material monsters, _Elemental Hero Neos_ and _Neo Spacian Air Hummingbird_!”

 _Air Neos_ dissolved and made place for the two monsters.

“Then I’ll just attack _Air Hummingbird_ ”, Ryō said calmly. He was still on the floor but not in immediate pain anymore.

“Not gonna happen! Because now I activate another Quick-Spell, _Quick Summon_! I can normal summon a monster – right now!”

“And what monster would be able to stand up to _Cyber End_ ’s 8000 attack points?” Ryō sneered.

Jūdai smiled and spread his arms. “My dear partner”, he said.

Then he slapped the card onto his disk.

Thorny vines broke out from the ground, wound themselves around _Neos_ and _Air Hummingbird_ and crushed them before they could even move. The vines united to form a humanoid silhouette. Bat-like wings spread out. A faint glow emanated from the head, slowly revealing shocks of white and blue hair, purple skin and sharp claws.

 

The crowd fell silent. _Cyber End_ was hovering undecidedly.

Ryō raised his upper body to regard the new monster properly.

Then he smiled. It was a soft, content smile quite unlike the fierce expression he had been wearing the whole duel. “I thought you don’t use _Yubel_ in duels”, he said.

Jūdai just smiled. And although it was supposed to be just a hologram, it looked like the monster smiled in the same way.

“You know _Yubel_ ’s effect, don’t you?” Jūdai re-confirmed, “When you attack _Yubel_ , you receive damage equal to the attack points of your monster.”

Ryō nodded. He pulled himself up from the ground once more. His legs were shaking. He could not raise the left arm with his duel disk anymore. But he managed to keep standing.

“Jūdai…” he said weakly. “That you would even use _Yubel_ … Yes, you could not make it any clearer that you respect me as a strong opponent.”

“Onii-san”, Shō gasped.

“This is a feeling I forgot…” Ryō whispered. “Respect for me, after all I did… Yes, I am glad it was you in this last duel. Thank you…”

It took Jūdai a moment to realize the meaning of these words, then he shook his head in revulsion. “Don’t say that. You still have a lot ahead of you”, he said pleadingly.

Ryō silently shook his head. “Respect… I am going to show you my respect… my last … move… “

His right hand moved towards his duel disk. It was shaking so badly he could hardly fit the card into the slot. It was his last one.

“Activate… Quick-Spell… _Cybernetic Zone_. _Cyber End Dragon_ is banished by its effect.”

He slowly sank to the ground as the dragon disappeared. Those in the audience that didn’t know _Yubel_ ’s effect expressed astonishment and disappointment. Whispers broke out when others started to explain what was happening.

And then _Cyber End Dragon_ came back. It threw its three heads back and let out a long, sad cry that reverberated through the arena. The counter showed its attack points: 16000. “During my End Phase, _Cybernetic Zone_ brings back the banished monster with doubled attack”, Ryō explained.

Jūdai looked up at the monster. There were tears in the corners of his eyes now.

“It’s impressive”, he admitted.

Ryō smiled, then he closed his eyes. “The effect of _Power Bond_ also activates during my end phase”, he whispered.

There was a bolt of lightning. Ryō raised his head towards the ceiling to greet it.

It hit him.

His life points fell to zero.

The duel was over.

Ryō Marufuji, also known as Hell Kaiser, fell onto the ground as all force left his body. He did not hear the voices calling his name anymore.

 

 

Shō’s eyes were full of tears. “He… **he is not dead**!” he shouted at Mr. T.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this maybe answers some questions from the previous chapters. Essentially it's the alternate-timeline version of Hell Kaiser's last duel from the anime, just with another opponent. So his moves are also more or less the same. I hope that doesn't make it boring. 
> 
> Sorry there's no illustration this time. I am not even sure if I'll ad one later. Although it's just one chapter each month and I finished writing in under a day this time, I'm having trouble to fit the writing together with my plans to publish a comic later this year. I still want to continue the schedule so the next chapter should be ready by the end of April, but if I find that I don't have time for it please don't be too disappointed if it's postponed.
> 
> If you are interested in what I'm doing when not writing Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfiction you can follow me on twitter (@YellowJitsch) or Instagram (YellowJitsch as well).


	5. Another Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shō is facing Mr. T, but can he actually win and stop the Darkness?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to finish this chapter in April and almost did it. It helped that today is a public holiday so I could work on it all day. Please enjoy!

 

 

Shō’s eyes were full of tears. “He… **he is not dead**!” he shouted at Mr. T.

His opponent only smirked.

Shō dried his tears with his sleeves and made a determined face. “I continue the duel! _Cyberdark Dragon_ , attack _Zure Knight of Dark World_!”

The sinister dragon shot forward at the armored monster, but Mr. T was faster: “I activate my Trap! _Defense Draw_! It reduces the damage from this battle to zero and I can draw a card.”

“But _Zure_ is still destroyed”, Shō triumphed.

As the claws of _Cyberdark Dragon_ bore into _Zure_ , the monster’s hologram burst into pieces. So did the Spell card _Axe of Despair_ it had been equipped with. But Mr. T’s life point counter stayed at 4000 as he drew a card from his deck.

Shō flinched. With _Cyberdark Dragon_ on his field he was supposed to have the upper hand, but he would have to cause some damage in order to win.

“I set a card and end my turn”, he announced.

Trueman drew and looked at his card, then at Shō.

“So you think he will wake up?” he asked with a mocking undertone.

Shō shuddered, but he told himself that it was because it was cooler in the shade of the trees. Still, he had no answer.

“You were not on the best terms with him, weren’t you?” Mr. T continued. “You disagreed with how he dueled only in order to win, didn’t you?”

Shō bit his lower lip. “T- that doesn’t matter! He’s still my brother!” he said, but his voice was insecure.

Truman grinned, but instead of pushing his point, he went back into the duel: “It’s my turn, draw. First, I activate my set trap card _Crevice Into the Different Dimension_. I declare one Attribute, then I can select two monsters with that Attribute from either Graveyard. I declare the Attribute Dark and select _Cyberdark Horn_ and _Cyberdark Edge_ from your Graveyard. They are removed from play.”

The hologram of the card flipped up and a shine emanated from it. As Shō’s duel disk ejected the two selected monsters, balls of light flew towards the card. Shō tucked the cards away in his coat’s pockets.

_Cyberdark Dragon_ roared as its attack points went from 4600 to 4400. “ _Cyberdark Dragon_ loses 200 Attack Points because you have less cards in your Graveyard now”, Mr. T explained needlessly.

“You still don’t have a monster that can stand up to it”, Shō said. But he was eyeing _Dark Archetype_ on his opponent’s field with suspicion. He did not know this monster. Could it have a nasty effect? He had not only avoided attacking it because _Zure_ was stronger and therefore more threatening. He also sensed a trap in how Mr. T had summoned it in face-up attack position despite it having only 1400 Attack Points.

“To you, Hell Kaiser is dead already, isn’t he?” Mr. T said calmly.

Shō shuddered. “That’s not true!” he protested.

Mr. T slowly shook his head. “Just look at you. You wear his coat and wield his deck as if they were yours already.”

“I’m just standing in for him until he comes back!” Shō shouted.

 

 

Johann was staring at Edo Phonenix with shock and disbelief.

“He has not woken up ever since that duel ended”, Edo said, finishing his recapitulation of the duel between Jūdai and Hell Kaiser.

Johann needed a moment to gather his thoughts. “But… then it’s not Jūdai’s fault, is it?” he said helplessly, and looked over to where yet another student had taken up a duel against Jūdai.

Edo crossed his arms and gave a sigh. “Well, I certainly don’t think it is. But among the students, nobody knew about Hell Kaiser’s condition. He was very good at hiding it while in public. So to them, it looked like it was that duel, and that duel alone, that made him break down. I have also heard them whisper that Jūdai’s card, Yubel, cursed him in some way.”

Johann continued to look in the direction of Jūdai. Yubel was next to him in spirit form, sometimes pointing at cards in his hand or talking to him, giving advice. Sure the monster did look a bit sinister with its bat wings, the glowing red eye on its forehead and the claws on the right arm, but except for seeming a bit overprotective of Jūdai, Johann had the impression that it was just as friendly as its partner. But he also knew that he could only see it that way because he could perceive Yubel differently than everyone else.

“In the end, though, even knowing the details has not stopped Jūdai’s friends to split over this”, Edo remarked.

Johann turned back to him. “His friends?” he asked.

He shouldn’t be surprised, but since no students had stayed with Jūdai when the duels were started he had somehow started to believe that Yubel was everything he had. He had probably projected himself into it too much.

Edo gave a serious nod. “He used to be very good friends with Shō Marufuji, and as you can probably guess by the name, he is Hell Kaiser’s younger brother. He blames Jūdai for what happened and thinks Jūdai should have stopped the duel before Hell Kaiser’s condition became fatal. Some of Jūdai’s friends who think the same have deserted him as well.”

 

 

Mr. T smirked. “You think you are a fitting stand-in for Hell Kaiser?” he said mockingly. “You cannot even beat me.”

“The duel is not over yet!”

At this, a satisfied smirk appeared on Mr. T’s lips.

“Oh yes it is.”

Shō felt cold sweat on his skin. But why? There was no way he could lose now! He had _Cyberdark Dragon_ with 4400 Attack Points and his face down Trap card _Fusion Guard_   would be able to protect him against effect damage!

“First, I normal summon a monster. Appear: _Snoww, Unlight of Dark World_.”

The monster appeared, a creature with vaguely human features. Its skin looked like it was halfway melting from its bones and on its head it had not hair but something that looked like tentacles. The counter showed 1700 attack points – more than _Dark Archetype_ but not even close to those of _Cyberdark Dragon_.

Mr. T had one card left in his hand, but he did not play it and went right into battle instead: “ _Dark Archetype_ , attack _Cyberdark Dragon_!”

The queasy feeling that Shō had about _Dark Archetype_ increased. For sure, his opponent wouldn’t make it attack just to let it be destroyed.

The weird creature lurched forward, right into the claws of the dragon, and burst into pieces when it was destroyed. If Shō had any possibility to do so, he would have tried to stop that battle – but his cards did not allow it. To his surprise, the Life Point count of Mr. T reacted normally. His life dropped to 1000 in an instant.

Relief started to well up when Mr. T announced coldly: “The effect of _Dark Archetype_ : when it is destroyed by battle, I can choose a monster from my Deck that has as many Attack Points as the Battle Damage I took. I lost 3000 Life Points, so I select _Dark Horus_ which has 3000 Attack Points.“

He searched the card from his deck and showed it to Shō, who was clenching his fists. What was going to happen with that monster?

“According to _Dark Archetype_ ’s effect, I send monsters whose levels equal that of _Dark Horus_ from my hand to the Graveyard to special summon it. _Dark Horus_ is Level 8, so it is sufficient that I discard this monster: _Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World_ , which is also Level 8.”

He put the card into the Graveyard slot and placed the _Dark Horus_ card on a free slot of his duel disk. With a roar, the black metallic dragon appeared. It was filling the space between Mr. T and Shō almost completely. Shō stared at his opponent in shock and pain. He didn’t even see the new monster. Unlike _Dark Archetype_ , _Grapha_ was a monster whose effect he knew.

While Shōs mind started to frantically think if there wasn’t still a way to get out of this, Mr. T said calmly: “If _Grapha_ is sent to the graveyard by a card effect, I can target one card you control and destroy it.”

Wordlessly, he pointed at Shō’s only monster with his left hand. A black mist spread from the Graveyard slot of his duel disk and engulfed it. Then _Cyberdark Dragon_ was gone without a trace, leaving Shō completely defenseless. The two Trap cards he still had on his field were useless in this situation. And _Dark Horus_ and _Snoww_ had combined attack points of 4700. He had managed to not lose any of his 4000 Life Points until now, but that would be over in an instant. 

“So much for your boasts that if Jūdai could beat me you would be able to do so as well. You would have done better to run back to your _Aniki_ and ask him for help instead of being a poor imitation of Hell Kaiser”, Mr. T sneered.

Shō just stared at the opponent monsters blankly.

“But don’t you worry”, Mr. T continued generously, “because now you will be swallowed by Darkness and forget everything in the embrace of nothingness.”

_Dark Horus_ opened its mouth. _Snoww_ raised its staff. They attacked.

Shō fell backward when the impact hit him.

 

_A sterile room with white walls and closed curtains. There was nothing inside except for a bed and a TV screen mounted on the wall. Ry_ _ō_ _Marufuji, once known as Hell Kaiser, was lying in the bed. He was connected to several devices that kept him alive. His face was sunk in and his skin pale._

_On the screen, someone announced: “We have a winner! J_ _ū_ _dai Y_ _ū_ _ki from Japan is the new World Champion in Duel Monsters!”_

_Someone turned off the TV. It was Shō, who was standing next to his brother’s bed. He was wearing the black coat of Hell Kaiser, but it was ragged and torn in some places. He looked at the cards in his hands, then threw them into the air. They scattered across the bedsheets and the polished floor, fell on the tubes and cables connecting Ryō to the machines._

_“What… did I do this for…?” he asked weakly. “I wore myself out using this deck but I couldn’t …”_

_A seizure took over his body. He buckled over, gasping for air._

_In that moment, there was loud beep which signified that the heart of Ryō Marufuji had stopped beating._

“If this is the future, wouldn’t you rather give yourself to the darkness?” a voice asked.

Shō nodded.

Then he felt his consciousness fade into nothingness.

 

 

“Man, where the Jurassic is everyone?”

Tyranno Kenzan was walking in the direction of the Ra Yellow dorm and looking around him. He had played two duels already and won both of them, but now the campus seemed to have become empty. He knew Jūdai was probably still held up at the main building, he had seen him surrounded by students before he left. But he did not want to go there.

He jolted when he heard a sudden scream that was cut off in the middle. It sounded unnatural – and like there was someone in real danger.

Kenzan turned in the direction that he had heard the sound from, which made him enter the forest. Beating through the bushes, he found something soon. A figure standing on a small clearing with the back to him. He didn’t need him to turn around to recognize the black coat of Hell Kaiser.

“Marufuji-Senpai”, he exclaimed, addressing his upperclassman properly as usual.

The figure turned around.

“Hello Kenzan-kun”, came the reply.

Kenzan felt the hair of his neck stand up. An animalic growl escaped him.

“Who are you?” he asked. The person in front of him looked exactly like Shō Marufuji, but his instincts told him very clearly that it was someone else – someone he had to be wary of. And his instincts had never failed him.

Shō smiled. “Why don’t you try to beat me in a duel and find out?”

 

 

Jūdai wiped some sweat his forehead with the sleeve of his jacket.

“Am I done?” he asked and looked at the opponent he had just defeated. The group of students around him had shrunk to three who had been cheering for his latest opponent and now looked very disappointed. None of them seemed to want to take the challenge anymore.

Yubel was turning their head in different directions. “Something is wrong”, they said.

Jūdai looked alarmed. “What do you mean?”

“Where is everyone?” Yubel asked and gestured around them.

Jūdai turned to look at his surroundings. There was another duel going on near them – Johann, the exchange student from the Arctic Branch was dueling Edo Phoenix. But aside from that and the four students, the space in front of the Academy’s main building was empty. The broad stone path that led up to it was completely deserted.

 

 

“You see, you cannot beat me”, Shō said.

Hovering above him was _Cyberdark Dragon_ which was holding _Cyber End Dragon_ in its fangs. Its attack points read as an impressive 5800.

Kenzan stood baffled. His opponent, whoever he was, had outplayed him with a masterly use of a deck that contained some of Shō’s Roids mixed with the Cyberdark and Cyber style monsters of Hell Kaiser. He had not seen the real Shō use that deck before. But then he had hardly even exchanged a word with him since _that day_.

Kenzan had _Dark Tyranno_ on his field with 2600 attack points, so _Cyberdark Dragon_ ’s attack would give him 3200 points of damage. He had only 1000 life points left. Sure, he still had _Survival Instinct_ face-down and ready to activate, but that would only buy him 1600 more life points if he banished all the monsters from his Graveyard. He knew he had lost.

“Why do you think you lost?” Shō asked.

Kenzan growled. “Because you’re strong!” he replied. What was the point of that question?

“No, it was because you couldn’t decide. You could have destroyed _Fusion Guard_ when you attacked last turn, but you let me activate it and then used _Dino Stomp_ on last card I had. If you had tried to guess you could have stopped me from using _Fusion Guard_ and then I wouldn’t have had _Cyber End Dragon_ in my Graveyard.”

“That sounds so simple when you say it now”, Kenzan growled.

“You had a chance and you did not use it. Just like with me.”

“What?”

The false Shō chuckled. His body quivered, and suddenly burst into fragments. They quickly gathered again to form the silhouette of an unknown man in a black leather suit.

“If you had decided to take Shō’s side after his brother fell into a coma, he would not have been so desperate to show everyone that he could do it alone. He might not even have run into me, or you could have come to his help. But you shied away from him. Yet, you didn’t even support Jūdai instead. You just acted like everything has nothing to do with you and put all your energy into that stupid graduation album.”

“It’s not stupid!” Kenzan shouted desperately. “I mean… what should I have done!? I’ve admired Jūdai all this time, but Shō was my friend! How could I take a side and go against the other!?”

He clenched his fists. They were shaking.

 “It’s over now, Tyranno Kenzan”, his opponent said coldly. “You have lost your friend Shō because you could not take his side, and you have lost the duel because you would not dare to guess which of my cards was the bigger threat to you. And now Jūdai is losing you as a friend and ally – but don’t worry, before long you will all be reunited in Darkness.”

With that, the man gestured for _Cyberdark Dragon_ to attack.

 

 

“No!”

The call made Johann hesitate. He had been about to order _Sapphire Pegasus,_ who was equipped with _Crystal Release_ , to attack _Destiny Hero – Dasher_. But the exclamation from _Crystal Master_ and the appearance of the two spirits next to him stopped him momentarily.

“What is wrong?” he asked.

Crystal Keeper pointed.

Johann turned in the direction and called out: “Jūdai, where are you going?”

Jūdai stopped. He had already made a couple of steps down the stone path. Johann had been too absorbed in the new duel to notice that he had finished his final duel.

“Yubel says something’s wrong. I am going to look for my friends!”

He was going to turn around again, but Johann shouted “Wait!” and he hesitated.

“I need to go! They could be in danger…! Asuka, Fubuki, Manjōme, Rei or Shō…” Jūdai said wearily.

The spirits next to Johann gasped. Johann looked up at Crystal Keeper: “What’s wrong?”

“Someone is missing already”, Crystal Master said in a whiny voice.

“Who is missing?” Jūdai asked. He had heard the monster spirit as well. Yubel appeared next to him again, glaring at Johann’s ghostly companions with suspicion.

“Let me confirm: Do you remember Tyranno Kenzan?” Crystal Keeper asked Jūdai.

Jūdai looked lost. “Kenzan? As in the card _Hero Kenzan_ – _A Hero Emerges_?”

“What is everyone talking about?” Edo interrupted them. “Are you seeing anything I can’t?”

“Yes”, Johann confirmed to him, “and the monster spirits are saying that people are going missing.”

“They are not missing”, Crystal Keeper said grimly, “they have been swallowed by darkness and that is why nobody can remember them anymore…”

“But you can”, Yubel pointed out.

“You mean that … Kenzan? Was a friend of mine and I just forgot about him?” Jūdai said in disbelief.

“Yes, I’m afraid”, Crystal Master confirmed.

“That’s crazy”, Edo said.

Johann looked at him. “I think we have more pressing concerns now than ending this duel, don’t you think?” he suggested.

Edo still looked a bit confused, but nodded. Johann put his hand on his deck and indicated a surrender. The holograms disappeared. Edo moved over to the other two and they stood together for a moment.

“The good news is that by this logic, everyone we _can_ remember should still be fine”, Johann summarized.

“Then we have to find them before something happens to them!” Jūdai said. He sounded really concerned and turned to leave again.

“Who are we up against, even?” Edo asked, but started to move in the same direction as Jūdai. Johann followed.

“It’s a force called Darkness. It seeks to consume everyone, first this island and then the rest of the world”, Crystal Keeper said. “Those who have a weak heart it swallows just like that, but with people like you it would use duels to weaken your resistance.”

Johann relayed the words to Edo.

“I see. But that would mean we can repel it if we do not lose the duel. Then it’s best if we gather the best duelists. People like Manjōme”, Edo suggested.

“Right”, Jūdai nodded. “People like… uh… who was that again?”

“As I said… eh…” Edo stopped walking. “I can’t remember who I was talking about.”

 

 

In a distant corner of the island, Jun Manjōme’s consciousness was swallowed by darkness while the fake version of Shō Marufuji was cackling.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story is picking up pace now. I got a bit further into it than I initially planned for this chapter, but I think I found a good end point.  
> The duel was hard to construct with the effect of Dark Archetype, and in the middle of writing it there was a moment where I thought "f*** it's not gonna work like this" but then I realized it did if I changed the order in which the cards are played. 
> 
> Anyway, I plan to have another chapter ready by end of May, but I'm starting my comic project for real now so that's going to be a priority. You can check my twitter (@YellowJitsch) to see what I'm doing all the time ;)


	6. Another Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things pick up pace as Jūdai and the others realize that students are disappearing one after another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! I was really busy the past few month publishing my own comic and there was just no time in between for writing. And even after I was done I couldn't really motivate myself until I set the deadline that the next chapter needs to be done before the end of September. Which it is. Enjoy reading!

“I see. But that would mean we can repel it if we do not lose the duel. Then it’s best if we gather the best duelists. People like Manjōme”, Edo suggested.

“Right”, Jūdai nodded. “People like… uh… who was that again?”

“As I said… eh…” Edo stopped walking. “I can’t remember who I was talking about.”

The whole group came to a halt below the trees. They looked at each other. Jūdai looked seriously shaken.

“You mean… I just forgot that person we were talking about?” he asked with a hint of panic in his voice.

None of the other two dared to confirm, but their worried faces said it all.

 

The hesitation only continued for a moment, then Jūdai turned into the direction they had been walking and moved again.

“We need to find the ones we can still remember!” he exclaimed.

Johann nodded and quickly caught up with him. “Yeah, I think that’s our best option”, he agreed. “We should find and warn as many people as possible.”

Jūdai stopped again. “I’m going to look for Asuka”, he announced.

Edo gave a nod. “I have no objections. Among the students she’s one of the most skilled duelists I can still remember. Personally I would go looking for the other students who came here as the champions of their schools.”

“You mean we split up?” Jūdai concluded. He was tapping his feet nervously. It was obvious he would rather get going now than to further discuss.

Edo looked at Johann. “I think it is an option. If our opponent is using duels, moving in a group doesn’t help a lot.”

Johann looked insecure. The monsters had already stepped in to remind him that he and Jūdai should stay together, but right now they didn’t interfere although they were still floating next to him. And he would have to agree that finding the other school’s champions sounded like it would help them.

“Yubel, you’ll protect him, right?” he asked the monster which had been quietly following Jūdai ever since they had noticed people were missing.

“Of course I will. That is what I was made to do.”

Johann nodded. “Then I’m okay with splitting up. Let’s meet again in front of the main building in half an hour, whether we find anyone or not.”

The three young men nodded, then Jūdai finally turned around and dashed down the path. He was only a few steps away before he started shouting Asuka’s name.

Johann looked at Edo. “I think we should stay together”, he admitted, “since I don’t know the school grounds very well. But the same goes for the other champions, so I hope they are still somewhere close to the main building.”

Edo confirmed with a nod, and they started to move as well.

 

 

 

Jūdai was jogging along, shouting Asuka’s name every now and then. He had already forgotten several of his friends - that much was clear even though he couldn’t even remember whom he had forgotten. What a frightening power. He mustn’t forget Asuka as well. Not her. Because he still owed her an answer to the question. The question from back then…

 

_“Hey, Asuka.”_

_Night was falling over the island. Most students were most likely back at their dorms by now, but two of them walked slowly along the banks of the small lake in front of the Obelisk Blue dormitory. Both of them wore the dark blue color of the dorm._

_The girl, Asuka Tenj_ _ō_ _in, stopped and turned to the one who had silently been walking beside her._

_Jūdai Yūki gave her an honest but slightly worn out smile. “Thank you for being my partner today.”_

_Asuka smiled too, but there was a hint of sadness in it. “I’d always tag with you again, you know?” she emphasized._

_Jūdai nodded. “I wasn’t so sure about that when the tournament was announced” he admitted, looking on the ground. “After everything that happened…”_

_Asuka sighed. “I know a lot of people blame you for what happened to Ry_ _ō_ _. But I… I know what a kind person you are. I’m sure you didn’t want this. You don’t deserve to be shunned by everyone.”_

_Jūdai was still staring at the ground. “But they’re not wrong… I could have stopped the duel. Then he wouldn’t…” He couldn’t finish the sentence. Asuka saw him clench his fists._

_“Listen”, Asuka said, raising her voice, “I know this is hard for everyone. But I think you have done everyone you could. Ry_ _ō_ _wanted to duel you. He knew his condition. And as a duelist, it was right of you to see his challenge through to the end.”_

_Jūdai looked at her again. “You think so?” he asked._

_Asuka nodded. “I’ve always liked how you approach dueling. When I got into this school it was to find out what happened to Fubuki-Nii-san, and of course I was confident in dueling. But meeting you taught me that fun is also a part of it. And I hope that today I could remind you of that a little.”_

_Jūdai looked astonished, but then he smiled. “Yes. Yes, I think you did. Thank you.”_

_They stood silently for a while, listening to the soft splashing of the water and leaves rustling in the wind. By now, night had engulfed the island. The lake and the trees behind it had become a huge black mass. The light from the dorm’s windows barely reached them, but provided just enough guidance so they could make out each other’s silhouettes._

_“This might not be the right time to say this”, Asuka started, slowly, “but we’ll graduate soon and if I don’t say it now, I might miss the chance altogether.”_

_Jūdai looked at her, but didn’t say a word._

_She took a deep breath. “I really like you. No, wait. You’d just misunderstand that. What I want to say is… I love you.”_

_They were both silent again. Asuka’s feet scratched the ground nervously._

_“Can you… accept these feelings?”_

 

While Jūdai walked across the Academy grounds, shouting Asuka’s name with increasing desperation, he wished he had reacted differently back then. He had thanked her, but then claimed that people would hate her as well if she stuck with him, then left. They had not really talked since then. And now it could be too late already. But no, as long as he could still remember, it was fine, right?

He had checked the path to the Obelisk Blue Dormitory, then gone down to the other dorms but without success to find Asuka. Or anyone else, for that matter. Even the forest seemed so silent today. Did the animals disappear, too? Now he was already going back in the direction of the school building.

Turning towards the forest which was now on his left, he shouted Asuka’s name once again.  

When he turned his head back in the direction he was heading to, he stopped abruptly. Someone was standing in front of him, blocking his path. But it was not Asuka.

It was like a flash hit him. He knew that person, but realized at the same time that only seconds ago he had been unable to remember him.

“Shō.”

How could he have forgotten the one person who had been with him since day one? The small build, messy hair and the glasses that made his eyes seem too big for his face? The one who had never doubted him – until that terrible thing happened to his brother?

“Shō, are you still mad at me?” he asked.

Yubel materialized next to him. “Be careful. We had already forgotten about him, which means that he already fell victim to the darkness. This one might not be the real thing.”

Jūdai looked at them, then back at the small figure who was wearing the far too big coat of Hell Kaiser. “But…”

“Ah, it’s no use trying to fool your Guardian”, Shō said, but his voice didn’t sound like Shō at all. His figure dissolved into dozens and dozens of black cards which set themselves back together to form the shape of a much larger and taller man. Jūdai had seen him before.

“You’re Trueman!”

“Indeed. And just like last time you are too late.”

“What do you mean? I beat you!” Jūdai protested.

The tall, bony man who called himself Mr. T smirked. It looked more similar to a crack appearing on the lower half of his face than to what would commonly be called a smile.

“Oh right, you cannot remember him, can you… I don’t mind telling you now. When we met the first time, I had already accomplished what I wanted to do. The monster spirit Honest, which was threatening my plans, is gone.”

“A monster spirit…?”

Mr. T shrugged. “You wouldn’t know about him. Fujiwara was the only one who could remember Honest. That’s why it was so easy to erase him.”

Jūdai and Yubel exchanged glances. It was obvious that both of them didn’t really know who their opponent was talking about.

“And this time you will be the one to be erased”, the man continued. He raised his arm, which burst into a flock of cards that, when rearranging themselves, formed a Duel Disk in the form of bat wings. “Face me, Jūdai Yuki and Yubel.”

Jūdai pulled the deck from his belt and inserted it into his Duel Disk, but before he could activate the device, a voice called out: “Not so fast!”

 

A third person arrived on the scene. It was one of the new arrivals from that morning, the dark-skinned champion of the West Branch. He must have rushed their way and was still catching his breath.

“Hey, you’re… O’Brien, right?” Jūdai said, remembering his name.

“Affirmative.”

Mr. T looked dismayed. “Why are you interfering? Don’t worry, you will be erased as well. Your turn will come soon.”

“My orders are to ensure the wellbeing of Yuki Jūdai”, O’Brien replied. “I will face you in his stead.”

He stepped in front of Jūdai without hesitation.

“I don’t need someone to protect me”, Jūdai protested immediately. “I will beat that guy and save everyone!”

O’Brien turned around to him. “Don’t be naïve. You have no way of knowing if you will win. And if you lose, all will be lost.”

Jūdai looked taken aback. “But…” he started, but Yubel interrupted him. “He is right. The last time we faced Mr. T we almost did not make it. I think we should avoid the risk.”

O’Brien could not hear Yubel’s words, but used Jūdai’s sudden silence to add something: “There’s something I need you to do. Mr. Crawford has let me know that the Rainbow Dragon was created. It is on the way here. Mr. Andersen needs to know about that.”

Jūdai looked very confused. “Johann…? And Crawford as in the creator of Duel Monsters? What’s the Rainbow Dragon?”

Before O’Brien could answer, he suddenly pushed Jūdai away. The teenager was propelled several meters and fell backwards on his buttocks, unable to keep the balance. “Ow, what the…” he complained, but when he got up again, he saw that Mr. T had closed in on them and was now standing right where they both had been just seconds before. O’Brien had managed to withdraw a few steps and, at the same time, attached and activated his Duel Disk which looked very similar to a rifle gun.

“I will take you on”, he said.

Mr. T, whom he had addressed, looked bored. “Fine. It will not take long anyway.”

He took a few steps backward to make place for the playing field and held up his left arm with the bat-wing Duel Disk.

“Duel!” shouted the opponents.

Jūdai scrambled to his feet. “O’Brien…” he said with worry.

O’Brien turned to look at him over his shoulder. “Just go”, he urged him.

Then he turned back to his opponent. “I start! Draw! I summon Volcanic Slicer in Attack position!”

Jūdai saw the hologram of a fully armored monster appear from the corner of his eye while he was hurrying back to where he had come from.

 

 

“Jūdai is coming back”, Edo said and pointed.

Several heads turned to see a figure in an Obelisk Blue uniform running up the path to the main building.

“Jūdai”, Asuka shouted. Hearing her, he increased his speed. “Asuka! You’re okay!”

He arrived in front of her and caught his breath. “I’m glad”, he said, looking at her. She smiled. “Me too”, she admitted.

There was a short awkward silence between them, but it was cut short by Johann who asked: “Did you find anyone else?”

Jūdai raised his head and saw that aside of Asuka and Johann, there were Edo as well as the champions of the East and South branch. Not many, but most likely capable duelists.

“Yes, um… I met O’Brien”, Jūdai said and went on to explain what had just happened as briefly as possible.

 

“The Rainbow Dragon is good news”, Johann said when Jūdai asked about it. “It is the final Ace monster that I need to complete my deck. I was told it will be needed to beat the Darkness.”

“It is based on the legend, correct?” Amon Garam reconfirmed. The muscular champion of the East branch had been quietly listening so far. Johann replied to his question with a nod, but Asuka cut in: “What Legend?”

Amon looked at Johann and then decided to tell it himself: “Johann’s deck contains seven ultra rare monsters, the Crystal Beasts. They are based on a legend according to which Julius Caesar, the emperor of Rome, once collected seven gemstones from different parts of the world. They were supposed to be put into a single stone tablet depicting a Dragon. But the gems and the tablet were lost in rough seas. Mr. Crawford has been able to track down the stone tablet recently, and created the Rainbow Dragon card based on the dragon carved into it.”

Johann frowned. “That’s true but how do you know about the tablet?” he asked with a hint of suspicion.

Amon adjusted his glasses. “I don’t think that is the most pressing question right now”, he appeased.

“I agree”, Asuka said. “I still think we should look for Fubuki-Nii-san. He must be somewhere on the island.”

“I’m repeating myself, but I do not think that finding him is worth the risk of splitting up”, Amon said.

“He is my brother”, Asuka protested.

“He is important. His connection with Fujiwara is a key to beat Darkness.” This remark came from Crystal Keeper, the blonde knight monster that was now showing up next to Johann again.

“Did you say Fujiwara?” Jūdai gasped.

Everyone looked at him. “Nobody said Fujiwara. What are you talking about?” Amon said.

“Are you hearing the voices of your monsters again?” Asuka asked. Jūdai nodded.

Amon sighed. “I guess in this situation it would be irrational to doubt that you can hear the voices of the cards. But can you please let the rest of us know what they are saying?”

Johann spoke: “They are saying that Asuka’s brother is important because his connection to…” he listened to the spirit before he continued, “… to Fujiwara is a key to beat Darkness.”

Then he looked at Jūdai. “Why did that surprise you? Do you know who Fujiwara is?”

“I don’t”, Jūdai admitted, “but that Trueman guy mentioned him and a monster spirit called Honest.”

“Is Honest not with you?” Crystal Master asked worriedly.

Jūdai looked at the sinister monster with surprise. “No, I’ve only ever heard about him when Trueman mentioned him.”

The face of Crystal Master was not visible behind his mask, but the mouth of the other spirit, Crystal Keeper, showed great dismay.

Yubel rose beind Jūdai with crossed arms and eyed the monster duo next to Johann. “Why do you think he should be with Jūdai?” they asked sternly. When neither of the two answered, Yubel continued: “You seem to have already known that something would happen here. Why do you want Jūdai and Johann to stick together? How do you know about Fujiwara when nobody else seems to remember someone with that name? Who…”

They stopped when Jūdai rose a hand. “Yubel, I understand that you are suspicious. But… I can’t help it, I want to trust them.”

Yubel sighed. “You are naïve as always. What if this is a trap?”

“I know it’s strange, right?” Johann cut in. “These two just appeared one day and told me that Darkness is approaching and that they know the way to beat it. But we already found the Rainbow Dragon thanks to them, and if it weren’t for them, I and the other champions wouldn’t even be here. I vouch for them.”

Yubel squinted at him. “And why should I trust _you_?”

Johann was at a loss, but Jūdai announced: “Well, _I_ trust him.”

He continued, looking at Yubel while he talked: “Nothing comes out of distrusting strangers. If I had not trusted a stranger back then, we would not even be here, I think. I couldn’t even thank that guy back then, but I want to honor his memory by accepting help from others.”

Yubel kept eye contact with Jūdai a little longer, visible struggling, and finally shrugged. “You have a point. Distrusting him will probably not help us.”

“I think we missed a lot here, but the gist is that we should trust the voices of the spirits you hear, yeah?” Edo confirmed, guessing from the continued silence that the conversation was over.

Jūdai and Johann nodded simultaneously.

 

“Then we should-“ Edo started but stopped talking when he heard some noise that was getting louder by the second. The others started to listen as well. Then the tallest of the group, Jim of the South branch, who had not said anything all the time, raised his arm to point at something in the sky. The crocodile which was tied to his back started to squirm and growl.

Jūdai got excited as well. “That must be the helicopter with the Rainbow Dragon that…” Suddenly he hesitated. “… I forgot who told me about it.”

Before anyone could say anything more, the helicopter started to change direction. It had been approaching exactly in their direction, but now it suddenly swayed left and started to lose altitude.

“Something must have happened to the pilot!” O’Brien exclaimed.

There was nothing they could do from their position. The machine shot past them in a safe distance, continuously losing altitude, and appeared out of sight behind the Academy’s main building. Then there was a loud crash.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter didn't feature a duel, I hope you are not too sad about it. O'Brien was dueling Trueman here, but that would have been an exact retelling of the duel featured in epiosde 169 of the GX anime so I left it out. 
> 
> I hope I will be able to get my ass up to write the next chapter until end of October, but since I'm also planning to do Inktober (which means finishing a whole illustration each day) I don't want to promise anything yet. But I'll definitely continue writing this story, so stay tuned.

**Author's Note:**

> There are 12 full chapters planned, plus a prologue and an epilogue. I am planning to post at least one chapter each month. Let's see if I can make that! 
> 
> Throughout the story I use the character's names from the Japanese version of GX.  
> I am going with the Romanization "Johann Andersen" instead of the more commonly used "Johan Andersen" because this is how his name is written in Duel Links, and for me that's as official as it gets. 
> 
> For card names, however, I'm using the names from the English card game. I know it doesn’t really fit together, but for someone who’s interested in the game, the English names should be more familiar (and easier to look up). Since I want the duels to be as prominent here as in the original anime, I thought that was the best way to handle it. Even though that means to use the term Crystal Beast instead of the truthful translation Gem Beast, for example. I hope we can all live with that.


End file.
